Jun.
29


By far this has been my favorite Daring Bakers challenge. This month we tackled yeasted laminated dough and made the Danish Braid from Sherry Yard’s book The Secrets of Baking. Having never made yeasted laminated dough… nor anything even remotely resembling a Danish Braid… I was intimidated to say the least. But taking it step-by-step I was able to convincingly complete this totally tasty treat :)

This month our hosts were Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What’s Cookin … and I have to thank them for a phenomenal choice. When I joined the Daring Bakers I really wanted to expand my baking abilities. Break out of my comfort zone of baking cakes, cupcakes and cookies… and branch out into areas that on my own I’d never attempt. This month’s challenge really did just that and satisfied me on so many levels. I enjoyed this challenge so much that I baked it not just once… but twice! As I’m typing this post I have a second set of pastries baking in the oven and the aroma is downright intoxicating! The dough can be used to make danishes as well as croissants so I made apple-filled danishes… raspberry cream cheese danishes… marzipan danishes.. cheese danishes… braids… folds… stars… rounds… and of course croissants too :) If you’re trying to sell your house, bake this dough!!! LOL!!!

I started off by making the filling… apple… almond paste (marzipan)… cream cheese… why decide on only one when you can make all three :)

First… the apple filling. Peel, core and dice a few apples… add sugar, cinnamon, vanilla bean, lemon juice and butter… then sauté to caramelize them. M’mmm m’mmm does this make an awesome apple filling :)

Next the almond paste… (yup, it’s aka marzipan). Combine ground almonds and confectioner’s sugar in a food processor, blender or Magic Bullet… then add an egg white. Couldn’t be simpler :)

The cream cheese filling is out of this world…. cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and an egg. It’s also from Sherry Yard’s Secrets of Baking book.

Making the dough itself isn’t that hard… yeast, milk, sugar, orange zest, ground cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla bean, eggs, orange juice, all purpose flour and salt. The best part is you get to use the dough hook on your mixer! I love getting to use the dough hook – makes me feel all “real baker” like ;-) And I love this photo showing the dough hook in action!!! (of course, you can always make the dough by hand… but that’s more work than I’m up to usually! LOL). In French, this dough is called the detrempe… but I don’t speak french so I just call it the dough :)

Then comes the butter block… who knew that butter and flour whipped up to be nice and light could make such an incredible contribution to the delicious pastry we’re making! In French the butter block is called the beurrage but again, since I struggle to get words correct in English, I just call it a butter block :)

Okay now that we’ve got the dough made, it’s time to roll it out into a biiiiiiiig rectangle… 18 x 13! That’s big, especially considering most rolling pins are only 10″ wide. After making this challenge recipe the first time I figured it was time to get a french pin… or at least a longer rolling pin since I really struggled with the required dimensions using a standard sized pin. Then I caught an episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats on Food Network and he said to just head over to the hardware store and get a length of PVC pipe for a lot less money. Dang that Alton is one smart cookie! DJ has a veritable hardware store in our garage and low-&-behold he had extra PVC pipe laying out! He cut it to 24″, sanded the ends, made it all purdy for me and voila! I now have my very own custom sized pin. WOOHOO :) Thanks for saving me $50, Alton!! But anyway… roll out the dough to the biiiiiiiiiiig rectangle

Visually divide your rectangle in thirds… and on the center and right thirds spread out the beurrage… yeah… the butter block ;-)

You’re read to make the first turn of the dough… we’re gonna fold this up like a tri-fold letter. Take the left third… the one with no butter-block… the nekkid one ;-) … and fold it over the center third…

… then take the right third and fold it over the the left part that’s already been folded over the center part. Whew, that’s a mouthful… a picture wouldn’t hurt and luckily I happen to have one right here (heh
ehe I take pics of alllll the steps… I hope they’re helpful to you cuz I know they’re helpful as heck when I’m trying to make a new… and complex… recipe)

… and there you have it… you’ve completed the first turn!! Woohoo!!! Nice job! Now stick this in the fridge for 30 minutes… then roll it out into that familiar 13 x 18 rectangle again… visually divide it in thirds… and fold it up. Only this time there’s no butter block to add since all the butter is already in there :) That will complete the second turn of the dough and you refrigerate it for another 30 minutes. Repeat this two more times to complete the third and fourth turns. You make a total of four turns of the dough. At the completion of making the fourth turn, refrigerate the dough for at least 5 hours… or overnight.

Now the dough has had a nice long resting period… and I needed that resting period too because all those times of rolling it out with my lil pin on wretchedly-hot 108F day was w-o-r-k… WORK. Good thing I rested up because next we have to take that final turn and roll it out into an even *bigger* rectangle… 15 x 20 this time. Holy mother-of-pearl I thought the rolling would never end… but blessedly this was the laaaaaaaaast one :) Uhm… at least for this danish braid… I made a few ;-) Hey, who can stop at just one when you have such fabulous fillings, right? LOL

After rolling the dough to the 15 x 20 rectangle, visually divide it in thirds. The center-third is where you’ll put the filling.. and the left- and right-thirds are where you’ll make the angular cuts that will “braid” across the top to give this pastry the name “danish braid”… yeah… see… now you’re getting it :)

ooooooh yes… all that aaaaah-MAY-zing filling… this one is apple but I also made almond, cheese and raspberry cream-cheese as well :)

Start braiding… fold down the top and bottom ends to keep the filling inside… then take the strips on the left and right side and start folding them across, alternating left then right,

…keep braiding until it’s all corsetted up :)

After all this, the dough is exhausted… and guess what? It wants to rest… again. But this time it won’t be in the fridge, instead we’ll brush egg on it first (gives the final product a glossy appearance) and proof it in a 90F controlled environment for about 2 hours until it doubles in size. While you’re waiting you can start cleaning up the kitchen… or have a glass or two of wine. Hmmmm…. let’s see… clean the kitchen or have some wine? Have some wine or clean the kitchen?? Yeah, I choose the wine :)

Once the wine-drinking… err… proofing is done (heh heh heh) pop it in the oven and bake to golden brown deliciousness… it’s very simple, no glaze, no decorations, just an amazing caramelized apple filling… OMG… positively delicious

Here is the almond one… it’s filled with homemade almond paste and after it was baked, I drizzled with a glaze of confectioner’s sugar and milk… then sprinkled slivered almonds on top

This one is raspberry puree layered on top of sweetened cream cheese… and with a streusel topping. To make the streusel I combined 1/4c sugar, 1/4c flour and 1T melted butter…

… and the cheese danish… drizzled with a glaze of confectioner’s sugar and milk…

The dough is incredibly versatile. Along with the braids, I made other shapes/sizes of filled danishes too… stars..
. rounds… folds… and I even made a few croissants. It’s feels great to be able to make these fantastic pastries. Once again I thank Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What’s Cookin for such a challenging… and rewarding… recipe choice this month. If you want the full recipe, it’s on Kelly’s site… but do yourself a favor and go buy Sherry Yard’s book The Secrets of Baking. On the right side of my blog page I have a list of cook/baking books on my shelf… Sherry’s book is listed and there’s a link that provides more information on it. If you’re interested in expanding your baking horizons, I really recommend Sherry’s book!!!

And now that you’ve seen the fruits of my labors, please check out some of the other Daring Bakers and what they did with this same challenge.

Have a delicious day!

Posted in almond, breakfast, daring bakers, fruit | 37 Comments »

Jun.
20

Bagels

Posted by Em at: 1:18 pm | 4 Comments


Who doesn’t enjoy bagels? I guess there’s gotta be someone out there… but no one I know, that’s for sure! There’s sweet bagels.. (cinnamon raisin, blueberry, chocolate chip)… there’s savory bagels… (onion, garlic, rye)… there’s bagels & cream cheese… there’s bagel-bites… there’s even bagel-dogs. While I know a lot about bagel-eatin, I didn’t know much about bagel-makin until I enlisted help from the fab folks at the King Arthur Flour Company…

The King Arthur Flour Company has one of the best instructional websites around. At least in my opinion. I can’t count how many times I have turned to them to learn new techniques. And their blog is one that I read regularly. Not just recipes… heck, anyone can post a recipe and leave it at that… but these folks give you a step-by-step tutorial in words and pictures. Now THAT’S what I’m talkin about! When I’m trying something completely new I like the step-by-step pics so I have a clue if I’m on the right track.

Case in point… the first time I attempted to make the bagels I didn’t know there was a difference between Active Dry Yeast and Instant Yeast. Okay, yeah, I know, the *name* is different but color me clueless because I thought yeast was yeast. HA! Now I know better. I made the starter at night and in the morning expected it to have thinned out and gotten bubbly. Well, it didn’t. It was like a super-mini rising bread. But even after looking at the pics of how it was *supposed* to look (and I shoulda stopped right there knowing mine didn’t resemble their pic AT ALL) I valiantly marched on-ward. Uhm… big mistake. 4 cups of flour + other ingredients and a one hour rising-period later, my dough did not rise. Nope, no way, no how, uhn uhnnn… it wasn’t goin anywhere. But… not to be deterred in my enthusiasm… I left it alone for another three-and-a-half hours thinking it was maybe just a slower-riser. HAHAHAHA Yeah, right. Good one, huh? On more than one occasion I dejectedly walked it toward the bin but decided to give it “just a little more time”. When I’d had enough and decided it WAS getting binned, DJ convinced me to just try baking it to see what would happen. He loves bread, btw ;-) To make him happy I kneaded in some garlic powder and italian seasoning… then pressed some sesame seeds into the top and tossed it in the oven on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Lo-and-behold if that thing didn’t bake up into one delicious loaf of artisan-looking bread which I promptly named “Ooops Bread” hahahaha

As good as the Oops Bread turned out, I still wanted to, yanno, make **bagels** :) I went to the store and purchased Rapid Rise yeast (closest thing I could find to “instant” yeast)… then one morning before work got the “starter” going. Hey, I figure bagel-makin can’t look at the clock and tell time and if it needs an overnight resting period, that’s no different to starting it before I leave for work and then come home 10 hours later to finish it off. The starter still didn’t look like it did in the King Arthur pictures… but it was closer to that – much much closer. After all of the requisite needing and proofing periods… then rolling into balls… then putting in the holes and shaping like bagels… then boiling in a mixture of water and brown sugar (cuz, yanno, I just don’t *have* non-diastatic malt in the cupboard! LOL)… and then baking… I HAD BAGELS :) :) :)

Okay so they don’t look like professional bakery-style bagels, but for a first attempt I’m pretty darn proud of em! LOL. The idea of making a dozen plain bagels didn’t rock my world so I made 2 of each of the following variations… Cinnamon Raisin, Sesame, Garlic, Sesame Garlic, Onion Garlic and Cheese-&-Pepperoni. And ya know what? They’re pretty darn tasty… each and every different kind. DJ loves sesame bagels (heck, sesame ANYTHING) and he said the sesame and sesame garlic bagels are as good as the bakery makes. HA! I don’t think they’re THAT good but it was super sweet of him to say it, huh? What a guy… gotta love him :)

Here is the step-by-step how to for making bagels. I learned a lot in this process and I can’t wait to make bagels again. Hopefully it inspires you to try making bagels too. It’s really not that hard… and they’re really very good :)

Have a delicious day!

Posted in bread, breakfast, recipes | 4 Comments »

May.
30

Quick-n-Easy Cinna-bites

Posted by Em at: 9:24 am | 1 Comment


Ever have a taste for cinnamon rolls but don’t feel like going thru the effort of making the dough? Recently that is what I was faced with and came up with a quick & easy way to make something like those cinnaminis you can get at one of the national fast food chains.

I had a tube of crescent roll dough that was edging past the “best used by” date and thought there had to be something I could make with this other than just regular crescent rolls. Considering it was early morning… on a weekend… crescent rolls just didn’t sound appealing. I guess I could have put them back in the fridge and waited until later in the day to make them but delay of gratification is not something I’m really known for ;-)

I took the dough and instead of breaking apart at the perforations, I just kept it in the rectangle. Placed some pats of butter on it, evenly space. Sprinkled on a generous portion of brown sugar. Dusted with a generous amount of cinnamon. Grabbed the long side of the rectangular dough… rolled it up not-as-tightly-as-I-should-have… sliced it and placed the slices on end in a tartlett pan coated with Baker’s Joy.

Baked at 375F for 11 minutes. Thank heaven I was smart enough to put a big pizza baking sheet on the lower rack because the melted butter spilled over the edges of the tartlett pans and that woulda been a bear to clean off the oven itself! After 11 minutes I turned the oven to HI-BROIL setting to brown them. (I love this shot cuz you can see the blue-hot flame from the broiler element)

Removed from the oven and drizzled some homemade cream cheese frosting over them…

Put them on a nice plate…

… then decided it was too easy to eat the whole thing in one sitting so I separated them apart and voilá we had cinnabites :) In all of about 20 minutes!

This is so quick and so easy… and soooooo yummy!! You gotta make em!

Have a delicious day :)

Posted in breakfast, recipes | 1 Comment »

May.
18

Yogurt and granola

Posted by Em at: 11:20 am | 1 Comment


I’m a creature of habit. If I like something, I can eat it every day. Some people think that’s boring, but I don’t. I mean if you like it a lot why would you *not* want to eat it every day :) And although I *can* eat the same thing every day, sometimes it’s nice to jazz it up a little!

See this here? It’s my typical breakfast… a container of Weight Watcher’s yogurt with about a tablespoon of granola mixed in. Not terribly exciting, but I like it. I like the different textures; I like the creaminess; I like the crunch; and I like that it isn’t high in calories. Now before you get all weirded-out about me choosing a WW brand product, consider the fact that 1) it’s $0.54 per carton at my store (as opposed to close to $1ea for other brands) and 2) it’s got added fiber which brings down the point count (and fiber is good for ya anyway). 

Like I said, I’m a creature of habit when it comes to certain things. Oh sure, it may take me quite a while to find that one special thing but once I do, I’m happy with it. And then I go thru phases. For a while I ate Honey Nut Cheerios and 1% milk every day. Every. Single. Day. I had to have my Honey Nut Cheerios or I was an unhappy camper. Unless of course the reason I wasn’t having my Honey Nut Cheerios is because I was having pancakes. 

Oh-My-Goodness. There are no words to describe just how much I love pancakes and maple syrup. And they don’t have to be gourmet, high end pancakes or real Vermont maple syrup. Nope. In a pinch, when they’re the only kind available I’m pretty okay with eating microwaveable frozen pancakes topped with store brand imitation maple-flavored syrup. What can I say… I don’t have an uber-refined palate :) I have a recipe for Blueberry Mascarpone Pancakes that I’ve been dying to try. And I can’t wait to make them. But… trying to watch my weight (amid all of the cupcake reviewing which is starting to reek havoc between me and the scale) I attempt to be a “good” girl and stick to my current normal daily breakfast of yogurt w/granola. 

Usually I just rip the top off the yogurt, throw a tablespoon of granola in, mix it all together and make a few “nom nom nom” happy noises as I eat at my desk while working. This is convenient. I keep a bag of granola in my desk drawer at work and bring my yogurt in my insulated lunch tote with me to work (along with my Lean Cuisine entree for lunch but that’s another story for another day… and probably at some point another post! LOL). But sometimes when I’m home, I like to use a bowl and be all, yanno, civilized-like :) I know… it’s hard to imagine… but yeah, I do like to pretend to be a real adult once in a while. Especially when DJ’s kids are with us and I’m expected to (yeah, go ahead and laugh now… get it out of your system before continuing to read) SET AN EXAMPLE (hahahaha yup, I understand, it’s hard NOT to laugh when thinking of me setting an example for anyone! hahahahahahah).

Whew… okay, now that we’re both done clutching and rolling and laughing (as my girl Scarlet likes to say)…. let’s move on, shall we? :)

While I admit to usually being a common straight-outta-the-container breakfast eater… who sometimes tries to perpetrate as a civilized example-setter… on even more rare of an occasion I like to be downright refined when it comes to eating my yogurt and granola. And such was the case when I snapped the picture below. I even left my lil home-based photo studio (hahahaha yeah, we’re clutching and rolling and laughing again, aren’t we? hahahahah I sure am!!!) and went out in the backyard to attempt a rather artsy-fartsy shot. I’m actually quite pleased with that picture. Yes indeedy I am! My friend Allison saw it and said “Beautiful! …looks like it’s straight from the pages of Bon Appetit!” Awwww isn’t she just the sweetest? (and Allison, if you’re reading, the check is in the mail, girlfriend!! mwaaaaah!).

I know everyone’s wondering how it’s done. I mean just how *do* you make a yogurt granola parfait. Looks complicated doesn’t it? So, how about a recipe for my world-famous yogurt and granola parfait? That sounds like a good idea! And I say it’s world famous because readers of this blog are located all over the world and I just know you’ll be telling your inner circle of close friends about this fantastic recipe. And they’ll tell other people too. Soon, the Food Network will get wind of it and offer to let me host my own show… all about, you guessed it, the yogurt granola parfait! ! I know! I know! Amazing, isn’t it? See how one little recipe can change your life? ;-)

Em’s World Famous Yogurt Granola Parfait

INGREDIENTS
6oz yogurt
3oz granola

DIRECTIONS
Prepare your favorite champagne flute by washing with sudsy dishwashing liquid and water, then drying with a lint free towel

Take 1/4 of the yogurt and spoon it into the prepared champagne flute
Take 1/3 of the of the granola and spoon it over the yogurt layer
repeat, alternating the yogurt and granola until the glass is full

Enjoy!!

Posted in breakfast, recipes | 1 Comment »

Feb.
20

Ziploc Omelettes

Posted by Em at: 6:35 pm | 2 Comments


While, admittedly, I’m a repressed pastry chef… and my passion strongly lies with all things sweet … I do love to cook in general. What can I say? I love to know the meal being enjoyed was created by me. Not Betty Crocker, not Chef Boyardee, not even Mrs. Paul’s. It was created by me!!!! I love to create food! It just thrills me to take various ingredients that on their own don’t always amount to much and combine them together to turn out a specific dish or an entire meal =)



My husband DJ is a huge NASCAR fan. Living in Southern California we go to both NASCAR races held at California Speedway each year (Feb and Sept). This means we pack up the motorhome on a Wednesday and early early early Thursday morning (”early” like 3:30am early) we leave for the speedway where we have a front-row infield spot… and that’s where we stay for the whole weekend until all the practices and races are over we pack up to return home. I honestly believe those two trips mean more to DJ than anything else we do all year. Personally, I don’t get it… but him? He lives, eat, sleeps, breathes the stuff. He loves NASCAR… he could tell ya everything you never wanted to know about the sport. We usually have a big race-viewing party at our house for both the first race of the season (Daytona 500) and the last race as well. Last weekend was the Daytona 500… and that means we had our annual Daytona 500 race-viewing party.

Sure we had all the normal chips, dips, finger foods, etc that any “man party” should have cuz let’s be honest, it is a man-party (as the sole female in attendance I was only there basically because it’s my house! LOL). DJ’s children requested both Oreo Truffles and Nutter Butter Truffles so being the fantabulous step-mommy I am, I made a big batch of each =) The kids loved em and surprisingly enough, the guys loved em even more! And you know I just love it when people love what I make. Brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. Yes indeedy the way to my heart is to appreciate my cooking =)

After a while I got a bit bored watching the cars driving around the track and decided to make a couple of pizzas for the guys… cuz well, I was yanno bored and guys like to, yanno eat! LOL! Now I’ll be honest and tell you, anything involving yeast makes me anxious. I’m comfortable with making just about anything else but ding-dang y’all… working with yeast makes me downright nervous! If the water temperature isn’t juuuuuuust right the yeast simply won’t do it’s thang. But last Sunday I was victorious… not just once but twice! Both of my pizza dough balls rose like champs and I was able to roll them out and make two gorgeous lookin pizzas (wheat crust, turkey pepperoni, turkey sausage and fat free cheese… hey, gotta balance out the sweets somehow, right? LOL). And based on the way the guys responded, they thought those pizzas were good!!! {sniffle} you know that just warmed my heart and brought a tear to my eye… I was all choked up inside. It was absolutely a beautimous thing :)

This weekend is the “California 500″ NASCAR race at California Speedway in Fontana, CA. That means it’s time for us to pack up the motorhome and go. We leave tonight and I’ve already got most of our “provisions” (read: food-stuff) set. One thing I hate about this weekend is how it completely takes me out of the kitchen for 4 whole days in a row. Sure, I could try cooking in the motorhome but trust me when I say it’s just so not worth it. First off I’d have to bring all my “stuff”…. pots, pans, utensils, ingredients. That’s a lot of stuff since I’d pretty much hafta bring, like, yanno, everything… cuz I most assuredly couldn’t, like, yanno {gasp} plan ahead… heavens no! The RPC is very subject to whims… what I make is completely dependent on my mood… and how I feel… and what I’ve been thinking about… and pretty much what I just flat out feel like making at the particular time. And second off being in a motorhome on the infield of a motorsports race track, on dead grass, in row one of turn three is just plain dirty. It’s dirty, it’s dusty and the mere thought of cooking under such conditions just is completely unappealing to me. So scratch the idea of my doing any actual cooking this weekend. But I also won’t go the route of eating four days of cold cereal, cold sandwiches, chips and soda either. Instead, we’ll pack up our travel bbq and our fire pit so as easily as you can say Yes Siree Ricky Bobby we’ll be grillin fo sho!!!! {insert Snoopy Dance here} Okay who am I kidding with “we”… the RPC does not “grill”. But the good Lord saw fit to balancing out my pastry skills by blessing me with a husband who most definitely is The Grill Master and Fire God himself – woohoo :)

One thing I did test out a few weeks ago was the concept of making a Ziploc Omelette. Now hold on… before ya start thinking The Repressed Pastry Chef is now completely off her rocker let me assure you that omelettes are a big deal across the land. If you’ve ever been on a cruise ship or to a Sunday brunch buffet you know the longest lines are always at the omelette station. So popular are these items that often they’ll have two stations dedicated solely to making omelettes. Now I like omelettes as much as the next person but dang if I’m standing my lazy self not just in a line but in a long line in order to have them. And truth be told, as much as I like them, I’m a bit too lazy to cook an omelette at home. {yawn}. But I came across a “recipe” for making an omelette in a ziploc bag and thought this would be a great thing to do when we go to the NASCAR races. I tried it out on DJ’s daughter who is willing to get up extra early and stand herself in a long ol line at the omelette station. Her response? “This is GOOD… it’s as good as any omelette I’ve ever had on a cruise ship OR at IHOP“. Imagine that! She liked it… she really liked it!!! (whoops, sorry for channeling Sally Field for a moment there! hahahahaha!). Warmed my heart and brought a momentary tear to my eye as this child, who is definitely not one to throw around compliments haphazardly, waxed poetic about her meal. The Ziploc Omelette is very easy to make and being able to quickly an
d easily fix a hot breakfast when you’re out camping is a good thing :)


Ziploc Omelette
From ChowTimes
INGREDIENTS
1 ziploc bag (quart-sized, freezer bags work best)
2 eggs
whatever add-ins ya like (cheese, onions, ham, green peppers, etc)
whatever seasonings ya like (salt, pepper, etc)

DIRECTIONS: Crack two eggs into the ziploc bag. Shake the bag and squeeze it a few times to break up the eggs (so the egg and yolk are all mixed up, scrambled-like). Toss in your add-ins and your seasonings and shake it up so everything’s mixed. Squeeze out the air then seal the bag. Place the bag in a pot of boiling water and boil for 13 minutes (not 12, not 14 but 13 minutes… and yes, set a timer so you know when 13 minutes is up). Remove the bag from the boiling water – and use caution because the bag will be hot and the contents will be hot as well. Open the bag and your omelette will slide right on outta the bag (and preferably onto a plate! LOL!).

Ding-dang y’all, as quick as you can say Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy you got your very own, customized omelette that you didn’t have to wake up early, get all presentable and stand in a big ol long line for. If you want to see the step-by-step instructions that include pictures, check out the ChowTimes link above.

Early, early, early tomorrow morning (like 3am “early”) I’ll be takin off for 4 days at the NASCAR races so have yourselves a great weekend… and try the Ziploc Omelette… it’s good =)

As that Good Ol Boy, Darryl Waltrip likes to say….

Boogity, boogity, boogity…. let’s go racin, boys!!!

Posted in breakfast, food, recipes | 2 Comments »

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